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Brother and sister make plea deal in Exeter murder

By JAMES A. KIMBLEUnion Leader Correspondent

BRENTWOOD — Two people charged in the Amanda "Amy" Warf murder will plead guilty to their roles in the killing instead of going to trial on murder charges.

Aaron Desjardins, 37, of Epping and his sister, Michele Corson, 44, of Skowhegan, Maine, have struck plea deals with state prosecutors nearly a year after they allegedly conspired to kidnap and murder Warf — who was Aaron Desjardins' ex-wife — last March 7.

Terms of the plea deals have not yet been made public. "The terms are sealed," Corson's lawyer, Andrew Cotrupi, said on Friday.

"My client has agreed to accept full responsibility for her conduct and hopes it will bring the victim's family some measure of peace."

Desjardins' decision to forgo his first-degree murder trial marks a departure from his earlier intention to claim he was insane when he killed Warf.

The double plea deal also now changes the dynamic for Desjardins' current wife, Sarah, 35, who is facing charges of accomplice to first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit hindering apprehension.

If a jury convicts Sarah Desjardins of accomplice to first-degree murder, she faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.

While terms of the plea deals have not been made public, state prosecutors generally require murder defendants to testify against any co-defendant who elects to go to trial.

Investigators say that Desjardins admitted that he was fighting with Warf over child custody and that he and his new wife, Sarah, agreed to the murder as a way to eliminate the problem.

"Both of us planned it, both of us executed it," Aaron Desjardins allegedly told his brother-in-law during a recorded phone call just four days after the murder. "It was both of our decision to kill Amanda."

Corson took part in the murder plan by providing her brother with a .32-caliber handgun from her home. Corson brought the gun to New Hampshire from her home in Maine after receiving a coded text message instructing her to bring a "roasting pan," state police said.

Warf was last seen alive by a co-worker driving in the parking lot of her workplace — Exeter Hospital, Core Physicians — around 6:30 a.m. on the day she was murdered.

Desjardins allegedly kidnapped Warf using the handgun, and brought her to the abandoned City Concrete plant in Exeter. Prosecutors say Desjardins slit Warf's throat and burned her body after dousing it in gasoline.

Aaron and Sarah Desjardins spent about two months planning the murder and intended to frame either Warf's current or former boyfriend for the killing, according to state police.